The Year of Silent Frogs

Disaster / Destruction

One morning, the people of Boghaven woke to an unnatural silence. The frogs were gone; their endless croaking stilled all at once. The fireflies, insects, and even the wind through the reeds went with them. The swamp became so still that it was unsettling and brought fear.

The signs came slowly. Children heard their voices whispering back from the mist. Shadows moved on their own, pointing east toward the Deep Mire. On the seventh day, the drowned rose. Bloatshades (waterlogged corpses filled with swamp magic) crawled from the Hollow in horrifying numbers, their empty eyes glowing green, their jaws still whispering prayers from when they drowned. They attacked the town, dragging people into the water, where they never surfaced again.

The Swampwitches gathered at the Wyrdstone, performing a ritual of severing that cut the Hollow’s roots from the dead. The frogs returned the next morning, and with them, the whispers faded.